Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Barack Obama's Religion

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Much has been said about the religion of Barack Hussein Obama, and most of it is very controversial. It is no secret that 'The Catholic Knight' is no fan of Obama, and I have been quite critical of him. However, on this issue I want to try to be as fair as possible. Rumors abound about Obama's religion. Some say he's a secret Muslim. Obama describes himself as a Christian, except in a gaffe in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, where he said "my Muslim faith." Stephanopoulos corrected him - "Christian faith?" Obama quickly corrected himself - "yeah.. my Christian faith." See the video here...

It was a huge gaffe, on the worst possible issue. Or was it a Freudian slip? The American people MUST know the answer to this question. Unfortunately, 'The Catholic Knight' cannot give you the mind of Obama. I cannot tell you what the man is thinking, or what he really believes. Only Obama himself can do that, and then we must ask ourselves if we believe him.

The problem is with Obama's childhood history and his family heritage. As a youth, all signs point to Obama as a Muslim. If this was the case, Obama could have easily defused it's political controversy by admitting it. "Yes, I was raised as a Muslim," Obama could have told America, "but I converted to Christianity." The American people would have loved it! Even pundits on the political Right would have difficulty using it against him. But that didn't happen. Instead it appears that Obama tried to hide the issue, and it would seem his campaign released blatantly false statements regarding the matter. A story on Newsmax shed some light on what we know about Obama's early childhood religion...

(Newsmax.com) - In the wake of the controversy over Obama's Muslim upbringing, The Los Angeles Times sent a reporter to Jakarta to ferret out the truth.

The Times report, published on March 16, 2008, revealed:

A close boyhood friend of Obama, Zulfin Adi, said Obama "was a Muslim. He went to the mosque."

Obama's first-grade teacher at a Catholic school, Israella Dharmawan, said: "Barry (Barack's nickname) was Muslim. He was registered as a Muslim because his father was Muslim."

In the third grade, Obama transferred to a public school, where he was also registered as a Muslim. At the school, Muslim students attended weekly religion lessons about Islam.

So we are now faced with a choice. Who do we believe? Obama or his boyhood acquaintances? The Obama camp reiterates that he was never a Muslim. So if we are to believe the Obama campaign, then we must assume that Obama was never a Muslim, even though his father was a Muslim, his step-father (who helped raised him) was a Muslim, he was enrolled and registered as a "Muslim" in both a Catholic school and a public school in Indonesia, his childhood acquaintances say he was a Muslim, and he regularly attended a mosque, and took religion courses on Islam. Okay, even though all the evidence contradicts Obama and his campaign statements on the matter, I suppose we could concede that even though Obama was clearly identified as a Muslim in his childhood, perhaps we could say he was never a "practicing Muslim." But then, we must ask why, oh why, does Obama continue to deny that? Why not just say, "I was raised to be a Muslim, but I chose Christianity instead." Again, this would defuse any political fallout, because the American people would see it as an act of independence on his part. That didn't happen though. Instead we have this constant denial that he was never a Muslim; even though he was registered as a "Muslim," regularly prayed at a mosque, and studied Islam in school religion classes.

Okay, let's give Barack the benefit of the doubt. If he says he's not a Muslim, and never has been, then fine. He's not a Muslim and never has been. Here we have Barack Obama the Christian. So let's take a look at exactly what kind of Christianity Barack Obama decided to be a part of as an adult....

Obama attended this Church for 20 years. According to Obama, Rev. Wright was his personal spiritual advisor for almost as long. He married Barack and Michelle Obama, and baptized their children. Witnesses at 'Trinity United Church of Christ' have testified that Barack Obama attended many of these controversial "sermons" by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and never showed any visible sign of disgust or apprehension. Nor did he ever get up and walk out. Why? The whole thing goes a lot deeper than just the wild anti-American rants of an unhinged pastor. Listen closely to the following FoxNews interview with Rev. Wright...

Did you catch that? Obama's pastor said it. Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama's home church for 20 years, subscribes to and promotes the doctrine of "Liberation Theology." Exactly what is Liberation Theology? Let's find out....

Question: "What is Liberation Theology?"

Answer: Simply put, Liberation Theology is an attempt to interpret Scripture through the plight of the poor. It is largely a humanistic doctrine. It started in South America in the turbulent 1950s when Marxism was making great gains among the poor because of its emphasis on the redistribution of wealth, allowing poor peasants to share in the wealth of the colonial elite and thus upgrade their economic status in life. As a theology, it has very strong Roman Catholic roots.

Liberation Theology was bolstered in 1968 at the Second Latin American Bishops Conference which met in Medellin, Colombia. The idea was to study the Bible and to fight for social justice in Christian (Catholic) communities. Since the only governmental model for the redistribution of the wealth in a South American country was a Marxist model, the redistribution of wealth to raise the economic standards of the poor in South America took on a definite Marxist flavor. Since those who had money were very reluctant to part with it in any wealth redistribution model, the use of a populist (read poor) revolt was encouraged by those who worked most closely with the poor. As a result, the Liberation Theology model was mired in Marxist dogma and revolutionary causes.

Liberation Theology originated in the Catholic Church - particularly in Latin America. (Speaking as a Catholic, I'm sorry to report that Liberation Theology is our baby.) Gradually it found it's way into certain Protestant sects, and apparently, 'Trinity United Church of Christ' in Chicago is one of them. Liberation Theology is Marxist Socialism given a Christian facelift - plain and simple. It has been officially condemned by the Vatican. Pope John Paul II, (and now Pope Benedict XVI), has come down very hard on it, issuing excommunications and bold public rebukes. It may have been invented WITHIN the Catholic Church, but it's been officially condemned BY the Catholic Church.

The brand of Liberation Theology promoted by Trinity United Church of Christ is a blend of typical Marxist Liberation Theology combined with a highly charged racial component. This is called "Black Liberation Theology." As you can see by the rants of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, it is very potent stuff. As for the effects of it on his congregation, we need look no further than Barack Obama's own wife Michelle...

"For the first time in my adult lifetime I'm proud of my country..." That's a pretty extreme statement, and she made it not once but twice. It's really not too hard to understand however. When you consider that Michelle has been attending Trinity United Church of Christ for her entire adult life, with the kind of teaching that goes on there, we can easily understand why she wouldn't be proud of her country.

But the bigger question in all this is Barack Obama's Christianity. People usually don't regularly attend churches they don't agree with. Obama initially defended his relationship with Rev. Wright, but then later had to distance himself from him after much media pressure. Yet he's never distanced himself from the Marxist Liberation Theology upon which Trinity United Church of Christ is built.

Let's face it, anyone who subscribes to the basic idea of Liberation Theology is a Marxist - at least in principle. There can be no doubt about it, since the doctrine is the epitome of Marxist theory. The real question here is this. Does Barack Obama subscribe to the Marxist Black Liberation Theology upon which 'Trinity United Church of Christ' is built? If he doesn't support the Church's foundational doctrine, then what the hell has be been doing there for the last 20 years!?!

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